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Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu will not be in attendance for the closing ceremony at the Olympic Games in Paris. The leader announced his intention to boycott the event following a controversial gymnastics ruling.
That decision involves an adjusted score for Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles on Monday that allowed her to surpass Romania’s Ana Barbosu for third place.
Barbosu initially celebrated upon seeing her bronze medal winning score, hoisting her country’s flag in excitement. Shortly thereafter, Chiles’ coach Cecile Landi appealed the result.
After review, judges bumped Chiles’ score by a tenth of a point, allowing her to move past Barbosu for a spot on the podium. The Romanian fell to fourth place and out of medal contention.
The ruling was met with criticism, much of which was directed at Team USA and Jordan Chiles for going through the appeal process.
Cecile Landi insists that the anger was misdirected, and that she was only doing her job to fight for her athlete.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu remains upset with the decision, and now, he’s taking a stand.
Romanian Prime Minister is boycotting the Olympic closing ceremony.
He said as much in a Facebook post this week.
I decided not to attend the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics, following the scandalous situation in the gymnastics, where our athletes were treated in an absolutely dishonorable manner. To withdraw a medal earned for honest work on the basis of an appeal, which neither the coaches nor the top technicians understand, is totally unacceptable!It is unacceptable that, in such a grand competition that promotes values such as respect, understanding and excellence, a child who had honestly earned her medal to be brutally deprived of the result of her work for four years! I couldn’t look at her tears and accept calmly that something like this is perfectly normal!And the fact that hundreds of millions of viewers from all over the world remained, like us Romanians, literally shocked by this terrible scene, shows that somewhere in the system of organizing this competition, something is wrong.I remember very well how, in communism, the Russians would steal from us at the Olympics, and we’d try to argue with them with no chance of winning. I do not want to argue with anyone today, but I only choose to protest through my gesture against a blatant injustice to some Romanians who have fully proven their worth!Sabrina and Ana Maria, you have with you an entire nation for which your work and tears are more precious than any medal, no matter what precious metal they are from! And I assure you that the Romanian state will treat you, including in terms of the prizes, like Olympic medalists. Because that’s what you are for all of us!
The Romanian Prime Minister will not attend the Olympic closing ceremony. He is sending a message!
Unfortunately, the act won’t change the final result.